On May 15, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a significant ruling in State of Texas v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (No. 2:24-cv-00173), declaring that the EEOC’s 2024 Guidance on LGBTQ+ workplace protections exceeds the agency’s statutory authority.
The case centers on the EEOC’s 2024 Enforcement Guidance (the “Guidance”), which interprets Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit workplace harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This Guidance extends protections to transgender and non-binary individuals to include issues such as restroom access, dress codes, and the use of preferred pronouns.
The state of Texas, along with the Heritage Foundation, challenged this guidance, arguing that it unlawfully extends the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton Countybeyond its scope. The court also ruled that the guidance violates the Administrative Procedure Act by not undergoing proper rulemaking procedures. In Bostock, the Supreme Court found that Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In vacating the portions of the Guidance addressing workplace protections for transgender and non-binary individuals, the court found that the EEOC’s reliance on Bostock’s holding interpreting “sex” to include gender identity and sexual orientation was misplaced. The court emphasized that the Supreme Court did not “redefine ‘sex’” in ...
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